But please understand, good as these promises are, there’s a big hole here. Something is missing.

Librarians have done considerable research on how people look for books. They’ve found most library patrons do something called a “known-item search.” That means people usually look for a specific title or author that they’ve heard about.

Sure, at the library, people browse shelves, and sometimes they look for subjects or keywords. However, “virtual bookshelves” at commercial online stores now contain millions of books. No one can browse more than a tiny fraction of all the titles that are out there. And people are busy. Most of us barely have time to squeeze in reading books we’ve heard about from friends or from reading book reviews.

And this is the point: in marketing, “word-of-mouth” is by far the best tool for selling something. As an author or publisher you need to set up and carry out a system to promote word-of-mouth sales of your book – even as you create your book.

We all know gossip spreads quickly. On the other hand, “buzz” about a new product or service takes a concerted campaign to build. Buzz is an excitement that snowballs because someone has worked hard to get the word out that something new is about to happen.

This is exactly what you have to do for your book(s). If you’ve ever built a “snow boulder” to roll down a hill, you know how much work that takes. You also know the fun of watching it grow as it tumbles.